Name: Josh Ottum
Nationality: American
Occupation: Songwriter, vocalist, educator
Current release: Josh Ottum's new album Heart To Heart, featuring Kosta Galanopoulos (Fruit Bats, Delicate Steve), Luke Temple (Art Feynman, Here We Go Magic), and Erica Shafer (Pearl and the Oysters, Weyes Blood, Miley Cyrus) is out via Quality Musical Services International.
Hometown Recommendation: I live in San Luis Obispo and I'd say you could hike Cerro San Luis and go to the Madonna Inn for a cinnamon roll then go to Montana De Oro.
Things that I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: Film, snowboarding, watching golf, tennis documentaries, critical theory, minimalism, the beach, oilfields, environmental humanities, guitar headphone amps, ice cream.    

If you enjoyed this Josh Ottum interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and bandcamp.  



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

I am compelled to create. It keeps me feeling healthy and engaged with life.

All things influence the creation process, but I do find movies more and more compelling than music. The all-consuming nature of movies like Boyhood, 12 Angry Men, Brazil, etc.

Personal life is always guiding the experience and so is the temperature of the room, the food I had for breakfast, and everything else.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

Preparation and quick execution are the name of my game.

Chance comes from carefully setting up conditions for us to drop into a zone of creation tied to our first, best impulses.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Preparation is getting an idea of what the song is. What are the sections? What are the words?

But for this record, Heart to Heart, and my past few, I am less interested in demos and more interested in doing 2-3 takes of a songs, then moving on.
 
Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

My ritual is to have a high number of songs I want to record and set up the adrenal conditions to make these things happen.

I love exercise, coffee, pie, and salad.
 
For Heart to Heart, what did you start with? If there were conceptual considerations, what were they?

Heart to Heart is an early experiment with ideas I listed above (quick decisions, few takes, etc).

The looseness and false starts give us a good picture of what we were up to in the sessions. Sort out the song, play it, clarify, record it, record it again, move on. Keep the pace quick and the energy up.

This album came from 2 sessions, each day involving 3.5 hours of recording, lunch, 3.5 hours of recording. This is a classic model going back to Buck Owens at Capitol, Blue Note era stuff etc and I'm happy to say it still works.
 
Tell me a bit about the way the new material developed and gradually took its final form, please.

I wrote and demoed these songs without a computer. Just recording onto an SD card with a drum machine and baritone guitar. It's nice to create and not stare at a screen.

I feels so fresh to listen back to the record because of the way it was put together. If you create the conditions for fast movement and instinctual behavior, you will change as a person. I have changed and I'm happy about that :)

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

I absolutely follow where things go both on a musical and lyrical level.

I rarely decide and control beforehand.
 
There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

Yes, it is one of the deepest spiritual states to get into. Time goes away and worry subsides.

I'd include writing and recording in this. They are different: writing is vulnerable and messy, recording can be precise and controlled. But I find as time goes on, that both can be all.
 
Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

I'm not into sitting on music and changing it later.

I want to write it, record the definitive version (while knowing there can be a million versions), commit to it, and move on.
 
How do you think the meaning, or effect of an individual piece is enhanced, clarified or possibly contrasted by the EPs, or albums it is part of? Does each piece, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

Good question. I am in the process of releasing an album every month for three years. Heart to Heart is my third album in the process, so we have 33 to go. They are all completely linked.

For some reason, I decided to dive hard into the water and not come up for air. I want writing and recording to be a big part of my life. So I've basically decided to live in the water.
 
What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? In terms of what they contribute to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (performance)?

Production is such a beautiful part of song-making. It helps you move the camera across the composition and highlight aspects of the work.

Mixing and mastering give us the same opportunity. We are saying, "listen to this part of the work! Check this aspect out!" This is all fun.

I suppose the one danger is that production and mixing can get weird if you do it for a long time on one song. So, the remedy to that is to just trust and move on. A teacher once told me there's nothing sexy about an unfinished album.

Music and the accompanying artwork are often closely related. Can you talk about this a little bit for your current project and the relationship that images and sounds have for you in general?

I love the relationship between art and music. It also seems completely arbitrary.

My latest thought is to find a person who's work I love and have them do lots of covers. Jasper McMahon is doing the first 12 in my 36 album project and he rips.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

I heard it said that the album releases you just as much as you release the album. I am more and more inclined to share without expectation. I am compelled to create and I'm happy to share my stuff with everyone.

Someone from Brazil just sent me a message last night about how much they like my music. I am so happy to hear from that person. I am happy anytime it resonates with anyone, but I do it all because I am compelled to.

I'm really into the feeling of writing and recording the music. Whether or not anyone digs it is outta my hands.
 
I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about or the impact it had on them – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

I used to tour Europe a lot and I met a fan once who thought my album could've been so much better. Like the first 3 songs were so cool then it was downhill from there. That gave me insight.

Any feedback I get from people (listeners and critics) is usually super revealing in some way because I realize I'm so deep in it that it sounds waaaaayyyyyy different to them.

That's cool but it doesn't change my vibe.
 
Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?  

Ideally I could create a film, book, pizza, pie, or coffee with as much creative focus as I would a song. But I don't have the energy for that.

I'm hyperfocused on music and making a smoothie is quick and easy and healthy. So that's my vote over a 2 hr cooking job.

There's only so much time and energy. I'm thinking more and more about where to put it all.